Pride or die A novel

Whatever affinity the four members of Hillview High's LGBTQ+ club might have for the phrase "be gay, do crime," it absolutely does not extend to attempted murder. However, out-and-proud Eleanora Finkel faces an uphill battle trying to convince her homophobic principal that the club had nothing to do with the attack that hospitalized a cheerleader. As Eleanora leads the club in an attempt to clear their names, it becomes clear that the all-queer cast is not just investigating the crime out of a teenage sense of adventure; rather, in their small Texas town, there is a dearth of authority figures who put civic duty over silent bigotry. Every character is, however, treated with empathy--even the principal has positive causes he believes in, and even Eleanora has to correct a racist misstep. In addition to modeling accountability reasonably and well, the teen characters are delightfully authentic down to the way they each message their group chat. The mystery is at times lacking, but the joyful queer chaos is present and accounted for throughout.

As the founder of the Texas Hillview High LGBTQ+ Club, 17-year-old Eleanor Finkel has spent most of her high school career holding the group together through sheer force of will. The club is important to her, and she wanted to create a safe space "so that people like us could find one another, support one another, and know that they're not alone in the world." But with graduation on the horizon, she's struggling to figure out how to bring in new people to keep the alliance going. Then Eleanor and three other club members--Tyler, Salim, and Noah--are implicated in the violent assault of cheerleader Kenley. Now the four teens, with help from on-the-mend Kenley, must work together to clear their names or risk jeopardizing the club's--and their own--future. Using arch prose, debut author Montblanc candidly depicts the queer protagonists' experiences living "in a town full of 'traditional' families with bigoted values." An unlikely romance and splashes of gallows humor add playful energy to this clever mystery. Eleanor is white, and supporting characters are intersectionally diverse. Ages 13--up. (Apr.)

Eleanora Finkel has only one goal for her senior year at Hillview High: save the LGBTQ+ Club. Unfortunately, the attempted murder of head cheerleader and supreme bully Kenley Stevens completely derails Eleanora's plans. When the four diverse members of the LGBTQ+ Club--Eleanora, Tyler Fuentes, Salim Ali, and Noah King--discover Kenley, lying bloody and unconscious in a hallway, their bigoted principal is all too happy to ban the tiny club and put the students on academic probation. With all eyes on Eleanora and her fellow queers as the main suspects, it's up to the club members to solve the mystery on their own--regardless of the danger. This dark and comedic mystery by debut author Montblanc deftly explores the gray areas between right and wrong, successfully addressing the complexity of people's characters. However, readers will wish for more detailed backstories for and a deeper focus on the four leads, and most of the adults display a staggering ineptitude that's frequently used as a convenient plot device. These elements may at times take readers out of the story, but the fast-paced plot and delicious mystery more than carry the narrative. A delicate queer romance that slowly blossoms throughout the story is the icing on the cake. A solid and overall engaging queer not-so-murder mystery with a touch of humor and a splash of romance.(Mystery. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.